How To Live Like a Rockstar When You are Not One...
Terracotta Warriors Tour in China. 19 June 2017. I was up and on four hours of sleep when I had to hit the shower at 08:30. I was not sure if Markus was going to make it back to the hostel in time for our pre-booked Terracotta Warriors tour in China. In the middle of my shower, there was a knock on the door. He made it! Good job buddy! We had to be at reception at 08:50 and...
Drunk on a Plane in China. Beijing, China. 3 July 2017. I was up at 09:00 to get cracking at our plans. Markus and I booked plane tickets for Manila, Philippines that leaves today. But first, there would be a 15 hour stopover in Quanzhau. We think could be the first city we visited in China, but we are not sure. Markus called it a ‘Blank Flight.’ We went for a walk around Beijing but we were bored because we had a...
Background: So, the Chinese tourist visa is a bit elusive and somewhat tricky to get. The rules for getting a Chinese visa vary depending on what country you are standing in. It is strange how there are no real consistencies. Here is what I know: I travel on a Canadian passport, and entered the Chinese embassy in Prague, Czech Republic, where I asked if it was possible to apply for the tourist visa there on a non-Czech passport. The lady behind the counter said it was no...
Exiting North Korea. Pyongyang, North Korea. 28 June 2017. * (For the previous part, click here: Travelling Pyongyang North Korea – Part 8) …I awoke this morning to realize that my Chinese roommate did not snore last night! How fortunate! I was in the shower in my room at the Yanggakdo International Hotel in Pyongyang, North Korea, when the phone ran as a wake-up call from Kim, my guide. “Meester Beavers,” as he has taken to calling me lately, “It...
Travelling Pyongyang North Korea – Part 8. Pyongyang, DPRK. 27 June 2017 (cont’d). * (For the previous part, click here: Life in North Korea – Part 7) As we are on our way back to the capital city, travelling Pyongyang North Korea, I was interested in local careers, so I asked my North Korean guide, Kim, about jobs. He told me that all jobs pay nearly the same. A dentist makes a similar amount of money as a bus driver. I wanted...
Life in North Korea. Kumgang, DPRK. 27 June 2017. * (For the previous part, click here: Mt. Kumgang North Korea – Part 6) The doorbell of my hotel room in Kumgang, North Korea, went off at 06:00. The front desk sent someone to my room door to wake me up because the telephones in the hotel do not work… Breakfast. Bus. Life in North Korea and off to Mt. Kumgang…my group of seven Chinese tourists and I… North Korea...
Mt. Kumgang North Korea. Pyongyang, DPRK. 26 June 2017. * (For the previous part, click here: A Visit to the North Korea DMZ – Part 5) Kim, my North Korea guide, could not wait to see me this morning to ask me what happened with Jo, the Chinese girl, last night. Nothing happened, but I enjoyed his effort to be nosy so much that I remained silent and decided not to tell him anything… “Good morning, Pyongyang!” After breakfast at...
North Korea DMZ Demilitarized Zone, DPRK. * (For the previous part, click here: (Barely) Backpacking North Korea – Part 4) [su_note note_color=”#b0b1bb” text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]Now, as I said in the first article on the day I arrived, I was just taking in everything from Democratic People’s Republic of Korea at face value of what I was told and shown. I went to see how North Korea views the world. And I went to look at the DPRK ‘presentation’ and decided to...
Backpacking North Korea. Pyongyang. June 25, 2017. (Perhaps that is a little misleading. I am hardly backpacking North Korea right now, but I did show up in this country with a small backpack. I would love to backpack North Korea, but regulations against that are the stickiest of any country in the world.) * (For the previous, click here: Travel North Korea – Pyongyang – Part 3) I received three wake-up calls this morning from 06:30 onwards. No one wanted...
Crossing from China to North Korea. [su_note note_color=”#b0b1bb” text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]Disclaimer: You probably want to read about how scary and frightening it was to cross from China into North Korea to spend some days in the Hermit Kingdom. You probably want to hear how I dangerous it was and the terror I felt every minute that I was within the country. It was none of that. It was nothing like you would ever imagine. A trip to North Korea is a...
The North Korea Decision. China – June, 2017. Prologue: Now I know what you are thinking. ‘Will I ever have flowing locks of hair as beautiful as Beaver?’ The answer is, ‘Possibly.’ And I know what else you are thinking. ‘Is he nuts? North Korea?’ The answer is ‘No.’ I know that many of you think I am crazy and I often do things that are dangerous. The truth is that this is not really the case. Every major decision I...
Flight to Egypt – Heck Yeah! June 2. I awoke in Athens, Greece, just before my alarm at 08:30. I wanted more sleep, but I always want that. Sex, sleep and money…there is just never seems to be enough! My friend Menia was already up and making breakfast! Awesome! I had a shower and met her sister who refers to me as ‘Pfshh Too Soo!,’ a Greek expression said aggressively meaning ‘I spit on you.’ Menia taught that to me....
Signs in Life and the Jacket. Life has a crazy flow and vibe, and things happen that are incomprehensible to us humans. But there is certainly an underlying layer the threads the eyes of the needles of life. There is just no other way to explain why and how things happen that are just too much of a coincidence to be just that. I call them the ‘Signs in Life.’ Actually, Bob Dylan called them the signs in life and...
My Worst Job: Pig Semen Insemination -Live transcript of Mr. Jason Whitrow. [su_dropcap]M[/su_dropcap]y worst job was the pig barn. I started there washing pig-shit when I was 14 or 15 years old. Then, I started doing the other jobs throughout the barn. We used to do our own semen collection. You’d have to haul the boars from one room into this other creepy black room with a weird pedestal where the boar would actually mount a stand that he thinks...
Punk Market El Chopo in Mexico City Jan 14. At 14:00, Irmante and I went to Tianguis Cultural El Chopo in Mexico City which is the punk market that happens here. It is amazing! El Chopo in Mexico City is packed with the coolest people you have ever seen in your life. When you walk to the market from the metro, you can tell when you are getting close to the market because suddenly everyone and everything begins to look...
Anyone ever heard of a band called Electric Eel Shock? There is a reason why you haven’t. The reason why you haven’t heard of Electric Eel Shock is because I managed them. And I may have held them back. But they are a fantastic band, from Japan. I toured with them from 2003, and I’m still a little bit involved. I fired myself. They are too nice to fire me. And I fired myself ’cause I thought I was holding them back.
Cute and Angry Rabies Bat Bite. [su_note note_color=”#b0b1b6″ text_color=”#030303″ radius=”6″]My friend Amber recently got bit by a rabid bat and she had to get rabies shots. Amber is a rock hound, and she was searching for semi-precious stone called chrysocolla in Evan’s Creek, which is a tributary of the Rogue River in Oregon.[/su_note] Amber: “I heard a bird that was the least melodic bird I have ever heard in my life. I was thinking, ‘That bird is fucked up!’ It...
Nov 14 It was about noon by the time my friend Kristen and I had made goodbyes to our new friends and headed out on the road. It felt so good to get going. We stopped in a gas station on the way and I experienced running water for the first time in 11 days. I seem to have failed to have appreciated it in my normal life where it is usually present. It is pretty great. You just put...
13 Unusual Jobs [su_dropcap]W[/su_dropcap]here I went to school in a small town, a class called Career Education was offered to those of us morons who did not want to take a second language (a clever career orientated maneuver). However, ideas for the future seemed to be limited to a career as a farmer, rancher, grain elevator agent, teacher or banker. With no outside-the-box-thinking teachers, our impressionable young minds maintained their path. However, it is time to grow a better garden! For the...
“They Charged me with Murder” -Live transcript of my friend Mr. P. [su_dropcap]A[/su_dropcap]s a kid I was quite into boxing, trying to pursue that and fitness…constantly going to the gym. But it didn’t really tweak with me that I’d never really have the dedication. But I knew what I was doing. I went to the gym and I’d been training for a long time. I went on a night out with me friends. It got to the point where we’re...
Lonely Planet Guide Soul Devourer – Pros and Cons The Lonely Planet guide-books are your primary travel safety net. That safety net is also a devil that devours travel souls. The Lonely Plant is the most powerful source in the world for completely sucking and absorbing real life out of anything it features, be it a village, a hostel, a restaurant…or by directing travelers to an ex-pat owned bar in town. But, Lonely Planet (or a similar guide from one...
ACDC nee Axl/DC in London At 15:00 I rushed out the door to meet Karel at the Ritzy in Brixton and from there we headed for the London event of the night…AC/DC nee Axl/DC nee Axl/AC/DC! I have twice before watched ACDC during the ‘Rock and Roll Train’ tour in 2009. Their show was totally amazing both nights, but I felt like I have been there and done that when the upcoming European tour was announced. Then news hit that...
April 25 I feel like I am turning into a jerk. I do not mean to be, but my honesty is for sure more than most people are used to. Maybe it is more than most people can handle. I often feel guilty after I have said something so profoundly honest, and I wish I would not because it is just honesty, but people usually mean well. But, any tolerance I have for small errors in being a reasonable person...
April 21 It drives me crazy how much plastic is wasted in Africa. There is a serious lack of education on how destructive its destruction is as they can not seem to waste enough of it on this continent. If you go into a supermarket in Namibia and you buy a juice, the people working will put it in a plastic bag if you do not stop them. If you buy one banana, plastic bag. Can of coke, plastic bag. ...
April 20 I got lucky this morning. I wanted to go to Kolmanskop, the site of the original Diaz Cross Ghost Mining Town, but there is no access to the place without one’s own transport. I was going to have to hire a taxi to take me there and then wait for me for 100 Namibian dollars ($7.05). That is not much money for an 11 kilometer drive and a driver that will wait one hour for you to be...
April 10 Lala woke me up at 08:00 because she had prepared breakfast for me. Julia, right behind her, had a nice morning shine and sat with me for breakfast. Today would turn out to be Opposite Day! Awesome Opposite Day. Play this while you read. I heard this today. It has been years since I heard this song. Somehow I forgot how great the Bellamy Brothers were. This is a beautiful song… Well, today went down like this… I...
April 9 It has been nice to be a little bit lazy. I feel super comfortable at Loubser’s Bed and Breakfast. I have my own room, Lala the older woman running the place acts as my mother and her husband Francois gives me fatherly advice. They are very sweet and it feels like I am a part of the family here. I do not really want to go. Today Lala found me a car to rent from one of her...
April 8 Brushing your teeth with cologne is terrible. I seem to experience this about once every 10 days. My toothbrush and my cologne are both in my shaving kit (among other things of the sort). I am not sure how it happens really. All I know is that it does happen… and seemingly often. Somehow in my shaving kit, a sift of cologne comes of out the spray nozzle of the bottle and ends up on my toothbrush. Unbeknownst...
Trying to Remain Sane as a Writing Travel Blogger. April 4 I really love writing on this website. I enjoy all of this so much…being a writing travel blogger… I have been a doing this for 11 years now, though only about 12 months of it is on this website. But, I have about 10 other years of daily writing that is just like this, as I have travelled and roamed the planet. It is a heavy load as a travel...
April 1 I changed places to sleep today and made my way to The Old Bridge Backpackers where I had spent my time yesterday. I was pretty comfortable where I was, but I needed a hostel where they could accommodate my desires to see some of the Okavango Delta, which is right here! On the walk, there was a really nice looking dog having a nap on the side of the road. He awoke when I got close to him. ...
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August 3, 2008 Bangkok, Thailand -Sex Show [su_dropcap]I[/su_dropcap]t was early August and my German girlfriend and I had just left Australia on a cheap flight to squeaky…
February 7, 2016 Today was a special day where I went to spend an hour with a silverback gorilla family in the mountains of Rwanda. It was…
January 10, 2017 Anyone ever heard of a band called Electric Eel Shock? There is a reason why you haven’t. The reason why you haven’t heard of…
May 4, 2014 Breakfast was at 8:30am, and I was the last to arrive. I was still feeling effects of the chicha, the local corn-moonshine we had…
July 26, 2014 I wish I could say that we were inside of a pristine shiny and sterile cocaine lab that I had pictured in my mind…
June 3, 2016 Convincing a 20 year old to get out of bed at 10:30 is no easy feat… It turns out that playing Slayer really loud…
March 15, 2014 We were up early to meet a group of three other gringos at Central station at 10am. We were early. We were tired. We…
January 24, 2007 Vang Vieng Paradise of Laos Girls [su_dropcap]V[/su_dropcap]ang Vieng. My paradise. Vang Vieng has a lot of things to do that can occupy a man’s…
January 30, 2015 My father was hanging out with me in the basement, and then he began getting his band equipment together to haul upstairs to load…
March 18, 2013 Want the recipe for a fascinating day? This one serves three: Step One – Get Ingredients and Heat up the Oven It started when…